This invention pertains to shredding materials and particularly to knives used in shredding apparatus, preferably for use in shredding paper and other feed-stock.
Rotary knife type shredders have been in use to shred paper and other material. One example of a mobile paper shredder is U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,617, issued to David E. Rajewski on Aug. 6, 1996, which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application as though fully set forth herein.
Shredders mounted within an enclosure may be provided in stationary work sites, or within trucks that have generally been referred to as mobile shredders because they can be moved from one location to another. Both forms may make use of shredding flails or knives, which are made to rotate in interleaved or intermeshing relation to a stator set of anvils or cutters, or another counter rotating set of hammers or knives. In either instance, prior forms of shredders may become clogged with product if the infeed is too aggressive.
Feed rate to shredder blades may be influenced by upstream feeding devices such as belts, augers, feed wheels or the like; or by the cutters themselves. Self feeding is inherent in cutter wheels with saw-type teeth in which the individual teeth have forwardly inclined hook angles. Forwardly hooked teeth tend to pull engaged materials further into the shredding cutters. If the materials to be shredded are abnormally dense, or of a tough consistency, the shredder may bog down or jam. This creates undesirable and inefficient down time for clearing the jam. Overloading also significantly reduces the useful life of the shredder drive components.
There is a need for a shredding system which provides cutters that will not easily bind and overload driving components.
There is also a need for a shredding cutter that is relatively simple in construction and inexpensive to produce.
The above needs are fulfilled as will be understood from the following description which, taken with the accompanying drawings and appended claims, describe the best mode currently known for carrying out the present invention.